“Too early to say what next step might be”, says Kubica after Hungary test

Home»F1 News»“Too early to say what next step might be”, says Kubica after Hungary test

Posted on Aug 2, 2017 |

Robert Kubica says it is “too early to say what the next step might be” following his test with Renault’s 2017 F1 car at the Hungaroring.

Ahead of the test Renault described the outing as a ‘new phase in assessing his capabilities’, and despite the serious injuries he suffered in a rallying crash back at the start of 2011 – that left him with limited movement in his right arm – the Pole did 142 laps in total on Wednesday, the second most of anyone runner and twice the distance drivers did in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Kubica’s best lap was a 1 minute 18.572 seconds, which left him fourth on the day’s timesheets – and a tenth off the best time set by Renault driver Jolyon Palmer in qualifying last weekend.

“It was a fantastic feeling for me to be here today in the R.S.17 and also it was amazing to see so many fans come to see me out on track, so thank you to all of them,” Kubica said.

“It has been an incredible journey to this point, where I have answered many questions to myself. I learnt a lot about the latest generation car, as there are a reasonable amount of differences between it and the Formula 1 cars I have driven in the past. The car is certainly wider than before.

“I was able to work through the team’s programme methodically and I think we made good progress. Certainly my understanding of the R.S.17 and the 2017 tyres came on a lot. After today, it’s too early to say what the next step might be.

“For now, I owe a big thanks to everyone at Renault Sport Formula One Team for making this test happen.”

Kubica spent the day running ‘various aero and tyre assessments’ and doing a combination of long and short runs.

Meanwhile, Championship leader Sebastian Vettel set the pace for Ferrari on day two with a 1min 17,124sec lap, 0.261secs up on Lando Norris, who is currently competing in the European F3 Championship, and who was running with McLaren Honda. Kimi Raikkonen came in third.

Full times from both days of the post-Hungarian Grand Prix in-season test below: